The present invention relates to a method, to a controller and to a system for detecting infringements of the authenticity of system components, in particular of machine and/or tool components.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
Complex machine tools are increasingly being assembled in a modular design from individual components from different manufacturers. In this case the manufacturers usually guarantee the safety and the quality of the corresponding components, so operators of machine tools wish to ensure that the installed components also originate from the manufacturers which have been selected and checked in advance.
In turn the installation of cheap or plagiarized components often jeopardizes the safety of the entire system or machine tool, since these are subject to neither safety tests, quality standards nor certifications. Corresponding components are frequently imitated by manufacturers without it being possible to discern a difference from the corresponding copied branded articles from the outside. The undetected installation of components incorrectly identified as original products can compromise the safety of the machine tool and entail significant deficiencies, loss of safety-related approval or liability and guarantee problems.
It is therefore important for the operator of machine tools or other systems to check each of the components used in the machine or system for originality and authenticity. Assemblies and components are usually identified by a manufacturer-specific serial number. The serial number can initially be checked during installation or initial operation by a system engineer. This occurs once and assures the operator of the machine tool or system of the proper and authenticated installation of the corresponding components.
All the same, component serial numbers can be duplicated relatively easily and authenticity therefore feigned. To prevent this global databases are used in which the authentic serial numbers are managed. Via “Track & Trace” methods the manufacturers' serial numbers from the global database can be compared with the current serial number and the logistical path of the product tracked. This is often connected with great administration and maintenance effort for the database. Furthermore, it is also necessary to protect the data communication of the global database with the components to be authenticated against manipulation and exposure of the confidential serial numbers.
In addition there are also various other methods of initial authenticity verification such as the checking of “physical unclonable functions”, the effectiveness of which is assessed differently depending on the method.
However, following fitting or installation it is often difficult to guarantee the continued authenticity of the installed components.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved, inexpensive and easy-to-implement solution for detecting infringement of authenticity following initially successful authenticity verification of system or machine tool components.